Cuba has dealt with several natural disaster in 2025. Here, a man walks through a flooded street in a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Melissa in Santiago de Cuba on Oct. 29, 2025.
YAMIL LAGE
AFP via Getty Images
Cuba, already struggling with prolonged power outages, food shortages, epidemics and its worst economic crisis in decades, is now facing another looming threat: a sharp increase in forest fires expected during the first months of 2026.
Authorities have warned that current conditions — including a harsh drought season, deteriorated forest infrastructure and large amounts of combustible vegetation — could significantly worsen the fire season between January and May, particularly in the western province of Pinar del Río.
“The forecasts are not good,” state media reported this week, citing specialists who consider the first half of the year the period of greatest danger for forest fires in Cuba. According to estimates published by the state newspaper Granma, Pinar del Río could see between 85 and 112 forest fires during the peak danger period. Officials warn that damages in 2026 could reach as much as 4,000 hectares.
The province, which plays a key role in Cuba’s agricultural production and has extensive forest coverage, is facing a combination of low rainfall, poor conditions of forest roads and an accumulation of dry vegetation that increases fire risk.
Rubén Guerra Corrales, a member of the leadership of Cuba’s Forest Ranger Corps, said the province is expected to close 2025 with about 100 forest fires. Thirteen of those were classified as large or very large, burning more than 9,000 hectares.
Experts say most forest fires in Cuba are caused by human activity. In recent years, recurrent blazes have affected municipalities such as San Juan y Martínez, Mantua and Minas de Matahambre.
The Forest Ranger Corps says it relies on satellite monitoring systems and observation towers to detect fires, but the growing frequency and scale of blazes have strained resources, particularly as the country faces fuel shortages, transportation problems and limited access to equipment.
Pinar del Río has more than 411,000 hectares of forest, with trees covering nearly half of its territory, making it Cuba’s second most reforested province. Despite that, fires in the past two years have caused significant damage.
Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 24, 2025, the province reported 70 forest fires that affected more than 160 hectares of forest, according to a Forest Ranger Corps report cited by the EFE news agency.
The expected increase in forest fires adds yet another layer of strain to a country already grappling with infrastructure decay, environmental stress and a deepening economic collapse, raising concerns about Cuba’s ability to respond effectively if conditions continue to deteriorate in 2026.
LOS ANGELES — Rain from a powerful winter storm that swept across Southern California has begun to taper off, but another storm system was on the horizon for Christmas Day with showers and possible thunderstorms.
Forecasters said Southern California could see its wettest Christmas in years and warned of flash flooding and mudslides. Areas scorched by wildfires in January saw evacuation warnings as heavy rains and gusty winds brought mudslides and debris flows.
Many flood areas were in burn scar zones, which were stripped of vegetation by fire and are less able to absorb water.
San Bernardino County firefighters said they rescued people trapped in cars Wednesday when mud and debris rushed down a road leading into Wrightwood, a resort town in the San Gabriel Mountains about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles. It was not immediately clear how many were rescued.
Firefighters also went door to door to check homes, and the area was under a shelter-in-place order, officials said. An evacuation order was issued for Lytle Creek, also in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Travis Guenther and his family were trapped in Lytle Creek after roaring waters washed out the only bridge in or out of their neighborhood. More than a dozen neighbors took shelter at a community center or found hotel rooms.
“Everybody that left to go to work this morning is stuck,” he said. “Half the families are here, and half the families are on the other side of the creek.”
Guenther said he had plenty of supplies and was coordinating with other in the community of about 280 people. Two nurses who live on his street offered to help anyone who may need medical attention.
Janice Quick, president of the Wrightwood Chamber of Commerce and a resident of the mountain town for 45 years, said a wildfire in 2024 left much of the terrain without tree coverage.
The storm also stranded Dillan Brown, his wife and 14-month-old daughter at a rented cabin in Wrightwood with almost no food and only enough diapers for about another day. Roads leading off the mountain and to a grocery store became blocked by rocks and debris, Brown said.
A resident learned of his situation and posted a call for help in a Facebook group. In less than an hour, neighbors showed up with more than enough supplies to ride out the storm, including bread, vegetables, milk, diapers and wipes.
“I think we’re a little sad and upset that we’re not going to be home with our families,” Brown said, but the “kindness shown is definitely an overwhelming feeling.”
Residents around burn scar zones from the Airport Fire in Orange County were also ordered to evacuate.
Areas along the coast including Malibu were under flood warnings until Wednesday evening, and wind and flood advisories were issued for much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Several roads including a part of Interstate 5 near the Burbank Airport closed due to flooding.
The storms were the result of multiple atmospheric rivers carrying massive plumes of moisture from the tropics during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.
Southern California typically gets half an inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) with even more in the mountains, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said.
Heavy snow and gusts created “near white-out conditions” in parts of the Sierra Nevada and made mountain pass trave treacherous. Officials said there was a “considerable” avalanche risk around Lake Tahoe, and a winter storm warning was in effect until Friday morning.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in six counties to allow state assistance in storm response.
The state deployed emergency resources and first responders to several coastal and Southern California counties, and the California National Guard was on standby.
The California Highway Patrol reported a seemingly weather-related crash south of Sacramento in which a Sacramento sheriff’s deputy died. James Caravallo, who was with the agency for 19 years, was apparently traveling at an unsafe speed, lost control on a wet road and crashed into a power pole, CHP Officer Michael Harper said via email.
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Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento, Jessica Hill in Las Vegas and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.
Bank of America on Tuesday announced $10 million in zero-interest loans to Community Development Financial Institutions for housing, nonprofit facilities and small business recovery following the Eaton and Palisades wildfires.
The loans will be managed through three West Coast CDFIs involved in the region’s disaster recovery efforts.
— Clearinghouse CDFI will use its fire-designated funding to finance property acquisition or single-family home development by nonprofits. It will also make funds available to small businesses for rebuilding expenses that outpace insurance proceeds and for resuming operations
— Genesis LA will provide loans to support homeownership, economic development, and nonprofit facilities in the Altadena and Pasadena areas. It is working with various Altadena groups to acquire vacant lots for redevelopment, with nonprofit developers working with local residents to rebuild multiple homes simultaneously, and local businesses rebuilding their storefronts
— Pacific Community Ventures’ RESTORE LA Fund will offer no-fee loans to small businesses of $10,000 to $100,000 at a 3% interest rate that can be used to replace damaged property or equipment, support worker retention or payroll expenses, and fund other recovery needs. Businesses also receive pro bono technical assistance and access PCV’s climate resilience lending program.
“Having extensive experience supporting clients and communities through various disasters over the years, Bank of America is uniquely positioned with the expertise, capital and connections to support LA’s next chapter,” Raul Anaya, head of Local Markets Strategy and President, BofA Los Angeles, said in a statement.
“Today’s $10 million capital investment will be allocated by our CDFI partners who have been on the ground supporting these impacted communities. As Angelenos continue our long-term recovery following the January fires, our zero-percent capital helps the CDFIs offer lower interest financing for families and business owners to recover and rebuild.”
BEVERLY — A woman has been displaced following a fire that broke out Tuesday morning inside her Cape-style home on Putnam Street.
Firefighters were called to 62 Putnam St. shortly before 11 a.m., Beverly Fire Chief Peter O’Connor said. The home’s sole occupant had gotten herself out by then and was uninjured.
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Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged five men with felonies for allegedly working as unlicensed contractors in the Eaton fire burn scar and vowed to find and prosecute other workers trying to rebuild homes destroyed by the January wildfires without a license, officials announced Thursday, Dec. 11.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office accused the men of knowingly doing contract work without licenses during a natural disaster, a felony in California.
Property owners are drawn to unlicensed contractors after receiving insurance money because they often promise to rebuild their homes faster and cheaper than others, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. Unlicensed contractors bring a greater risk of fraud, he said.
Homeowners can be sued for any injury workers experience on their property, and it would be difficult if not impossible to recover losses or damages from unlicensed contractors, who often aren’t insured, he said. Unlicensed contractors may ask for significant money upfront and then leave homeowners high and dry or do a faulty job that leads to higher costs and issues in the long run.
“There’s a reason it’s quick and there’s a reason it’s cheaper,” Hochman said, “because of all these risks that can occur.”
Undercover operatives will search the area for unlicensed contractors in an effort to weed them out, he said.
“Get the heck out of our community, all you unlicensed contractors,” Hochman said.
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, said residents should turn to official lists of vetted contractors when planning to rebuild.
The men are expected to be arraigned on Jan. 8, Hochman said.
Thousands of runners raced to the finish line for the Pacific Palisades’ 11th annual Turkey Trot on Thursday, with proceeds benefiting the rebuilding of the Palisades-Malibu YMCA.
But it wasn’t your typical morning-of-Thanksgiving tradition.
Runners make their way past a fire damaged building during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since the January wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Holiday costumes of all types were on display during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since the January wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners make their way through fire damaged neighborhoods during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since the January wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Joaquin and Juan Camacho participate in the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since January’s wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Participants make their way through fire damaged neighborhoods during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since the January wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Participants make their way through fire damaged neighborhoods during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since the January wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Caleb Alvarez-Wicht cheers on runners during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since January’s wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Juan Camacho dons a turkey costume for the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since January’s wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Race director Dave O’Connell talks with participants during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since January’s wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Runners take to the streets as they participate in the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since the January wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Candice Schimmer lets out a smile prior to the start of the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since the January wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
Actor and honorary mayor of Pacific Palisades Ted Mcginley hands out water during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since January’s wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
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Runners make their way past a fire damaged building during the 11th annual Pacific Palisades Turkey Trot on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The run was the community’s first special event since the January wildfire burned through the area.(Photo by Andy Holzman, Contributing Photographer)
On this day, you’d find racers sporting traditional Thanksgiving garb, whether turkey, pumpkin, or pilgrim costumes. But you’d also find hats that say “Palisades Strong.”
Organizers said this is the first major public gathering in the Palisades since the January blazes, which devastated the idyllic coastal community, destroying over 6,800 structures and killing 12 individuals.
The event included a 5K, 10K and a children’s race, with nearly 2,000 running and spectating. The Palisades’ honorary mayors, Ted McGinley and Gigi Rice, were among those who competed in the 5K race this morning.
Henry Winn, a 17-year-old who previously went to Harvard-Westlake School, won first-place in the 5K race, finishing in just over 16 minutes. Though he and his family moved out of the Palisades a few years ago, he decided to come back because “it has a special place in [his heart].”
“The people made it special. That’s the reason it’s still thriving,” said Winn.
Thursday morning was more than just a race. It was a significant milestone in the recovery of a fire-torn community.
The holiday 5K and 10K events drew about 2,200 participants and 2,500 spectators across Pacific Palisades in what’s become a family community tradition since 2013.
Runners this year started and ended the race in front of a former Bank of America branch gutted by the Palisades fire. It’s right across the street from Palisades Village, which was mostly spared from destruction.
Previously, the races have started and ended at Palisades Charter High School — but it was also burned down in January.
With so much loss in the community — whether a school, home, place of worship, Thursday morning was a chance for Palisades residents to reflect on the spirit of Thanksgiving and share in a collective feeling of hope.
Jim Kirtley, Executive Director of the Palisades-Malibu YMCA, hopes to rebuild the branch as soon as possible.
“Seeing everybody together is the epitome of what the Palisades is,” said Kirtley. “The community is very tight-knit, and this disaster has just brought the community together even tighter.”
Since the January blazes, the Palisades-Malibu branch has relocated to the Simon-Meadows branch, where they have waived membership fees for those affected by the fire.
The YMCA runs various youth programs including the Youth and Government program, serving middle-school and high-school students. This year, youth affected by the fires were able to join the program for free, which typically costs $3,000 per individual.
Kirtley says the $15,000 raised from the Turkey Trot will go directly toward the rebuilding of the Palisades-Malibu branch, located just a block away from the race, that was completely destroyed in the fires.
“[The YMCA] has always been a very important centerpiece of our community,” said Dave O’Connell. “It was really important that we got to rebuild it.”
O’Connell, a co-founder of the Palisades Turkey Trot, told City News Service in deciding to push through with the event this year, that it occurred to him that “this race could be something that the community could really rally around.”
He lost his home in the January fires but has since obtained the permit to begin rebuilding his home.
Rabbi Zushe Cunin was supporting racers on behalf of the Chabad Jewish Community Center of the Pacific Palisades. A large portion of his school, the Palisades Jewish Early Childhood Center, was burned down, forcing them to relocate to a site in Santa Monica.
“We’re just so grateful of the energy, the momentum of building back,” said Cunin.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has stopped using its CodeRED system to alert residents of orders to evacuate or shelter in place or of other emergencies after learning of a cyberattack on the network and a data breach.
Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Carlin said Monday that the county stopped using CodeRED Nov. 21 when it learned of the data breach. Two weeks before that, the sheriff’s office started getting notifications that the system was down, but couldn’t get confirmation.
Carlin said CodeRED, accessed through an app, lost a lot of customers’ information. “We don’t trust continuing to use them.”
Although the data haven’t been published online, the sheriff’s office is encouraging all CodeRED users to contact credit bureaus to ensure their personal information has not been compromised. The sheriff’s office was among hundreds of agencies affected by the nationwide cybersecurity attack.
Douglas County is talking to representatives of similar alert systems and hopes to have a new network locked in within the next week or two, Carlin said. Until then, the sheriff’s department will go door-to-door in cases of a need to evacuate or shelter in place and use social media and other means to alert people, he added.
Douglas County is one of several counties that use CodeRED to alert residents of evacuation orders and other emergencies. Weld County also is looking for a new alert provider since CodeRED went down. The Park County Sheriff’s Office decommissioned the platform as well.
It’s unclear how many other Colorado counties use CodeRED. A message left with the company seeking more information went unreturned as of 5 p.m.
Some counties also use the state-run Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS, to notify people of wildfires and other emergencies.
“CodeRED was a great system for us to alert the public very fast,” Carlin said. “Easy access is of concern, but we 100% believe we can mitigate it via door-to-door knocks and social media posts.”
He said that residents will likely have to sign up for the system because their information won’t automatically be transferred.
Go back to a cold morning. (It could even be when you woke up this Tuesday morning.)
Do you recall smelling your neighbor’s fireplace? Maybe you heard a train and thought, “I didn’t know we lived by train tracks?!”
You can blame temperature inversions in the lowest layers of the atmosphere for activating your senses.
What is a temperature inversion?
A temperature inversion refers to when air just above the surface is warmer than the ground level.
You’ll often find this on calm, clear and cold mornings in the fall, winter and spring.
The clear sky is like a bed without a blanket, so all of the day’s warmth can escape back up into space.
This leads to quicker and more emphatic cooling at ground level.
Why temperatures cool so quickly on a clear and calm night.
Meanwhile, above the surface, your temperatures can be several degrees higher.
Temperature inversions happen when air above the surface is warmer.
In my first TV market, it was common for a town called Big Stone Gap to be 15-20° cooler than the nearest town- Wise. The reason? Big Stone Gap was 1,000 feet lower in elevation than Wise.
What role do inversions play on our senses?
The layer of warm air above the surface can be thought of as a strong defensive line, trapping the quarterback in the pocket and collapsing in on him.
If the QB tries to escape the pocket, he’s sacked immediately.
Football analogies aside, the warmer air above traps sounds, smells and even sights at ground level.
This is why you’ll often smell smoke on mornings after a fireworks display, bonfire, etc. It’s also why you might hear train horns blowing or animals howling in the distance.
How temperature inversions trap smells and sounds.
One of my favorite examples of this in any movie is early on in the Polar Express. I’m sure they were totally thinking of meteorology when creating that (ha!).
Why do inversions matter with winter precipitation?
Inversions play a big role on our winters, too.
It’s often tough for us to get an all snow event when forecasting winter weather. If you’ve lived here long enough, you know how quickly things can change to sleet and freezing rain.
Our relatively close proximity to the Atlantic and the warm Gulf Stream gives us that layer of warm air over cold surface air, leading to an annoying mix of precipitation.
Temperature inversions can influence precipitation types.
What can we expect this coming winter?
WRAL meteorologists will release the 2025-2026 winter outlook on WRAL’s 6:00 p.m. newscast, Monday, November 24, 2025.
Elizabeth Gardner and I will also discuss things in further detail on the WRAL YouTube page.
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Have questions about the weather and how it works?
Teller County officials lifted pre-evacuation warnings for a 5-acre brush fire burning between Florissant and Divide on Friday, according to the sheriff’s office.
The pre-evacuation warning for the Highland Lakes subdivision and people living north of U.S. 24 between Cougar Canyon Point and Lower Twin Rocks Road was lifted at 5:15 p.m.
The fire is burning north of U.S. 24 halfway between Florissant and Divide, the sheriff’s office said. The cause of the fire has not been determined, according to the Bureau of Land Management’s fire dashboard.
Bursts of heavy rainfall are in the forecast overnight and Saturday, when flash flood watches will be in effect for most of Los Angeles County and Southern California.
Evacuation warnings are in effect for communities near some burn scars, including near the Eaton Fire area in Altadena and the Palisades, Hurst and Sunset fire burn zones.
Showers will linger through the weekend with a chance of rain early next week.
Snow levels will start at 8,000 feet, lowering to 6,000 feet Thursday night into Friday.
Half of California is drought-free in mid-November with pockets of moderate to severe drought in Southern California.
Widespread flood watches will be in effect overnight as the second wave of a mid-November storm unleashes steady rain in Southern California, raising the threat of flooding and debris flows in the region’s recent wildfire burn areas.
Evacuation orders were in effect for some properties considered at high-risk for debris flows in the Palisades, Eaton and other fire zones. Evacuation warnings were in place for other burn areas, meaning residents should be prepared to leave.
The system, which could also produce thunderstorms, hail and even small tornadoes, moved into Santa Barbara and Ventura counties Thursday night and brought scattered showers to Los Angeles County by early Friday morning. Rainfall was expected to intensify into the weekend with flood watches in effect overnight and through Saturday for parts of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Rainfall rates of up to 1 inch per hour are possible, increasing the Saturday flood risk.
Here’s what to know about the mid-November storm.
Storm timeline
Overnight and early Saturday morning: Steady rain with increased threats for flooding and debris flows. Flood watches go into effect for a widespread area.
Midday Saturday: Rainfall rates reach their peaks with an increased chance for thunderstorms.
Saturday evening: Rainfall starts to wind down, but showers continue into the night.
Sunday: Lingering showers, but most areas will start to dry out.
A separate, but less powerful, system appears on track to deliver more rain early next week.
Temperatures will be in the 60s for most of the region. Strong wind gusts are possible.
Rain and snowfall estimates
Most areas: 2 to 5 inches. Normal precipitation for November in downtown Los Angeles is 0.76 inches.
Mountains and foothills: 3 to 6 inches
Snow levels: Around 8,000 feet, lowering to 6,000 feet Thursday night into Friday. A few inches are possible at resort level.
Rainfall estimates and the storm timeline might change, depending on the path of the storm.
Evacuations
On Friday morning, the city of Los Angeles said evacuation orders were issued for “select vulnerable properties within burn scar areas” beginning at 8 p.m. Friday through 8 a.m. Sunday. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the evacuation warnings that had been issued in the Pacific Palisades, especially areas near the burn scar zones, are now under evacuation orders “due to the increased risk of mud and debris flow.”
“Recent burn areas, including those impacted by the January 7 wildfires, remain highly susceptible to mud and debris flows,” the city said in a statement. “Residents in these areas are urged to stay vigilant, monitor official weather updates, and avoid unnecessary travel during the storm—especially if they have been advised of potential mudflow risks in their neighborhoods.”
Los Angeles’ Emergency Operations Center will activate at 6 p.m. Thursday.
“If your home is within the impacted area, please evacuate before 8 p.m. tonight,” McDonnell said. “Take your family, pets, medications, important documents, and any essentials you may need.”
Similarly, Los Angeles County updated the evacuation warnings to orders in Altadena, urging those who live in recent burn areas to leave their neighborhoods by 8 p.m. Friday. The evacuation order was expected to expire at 8 a.m. Sunday.
Debris flow risk
After months of mostly dry weather in Southern California, dry soil can quickly become over-saturated and unable to adequately absorb moisture. The result can be damaging mudslides and debris flows, which collect large rocks, trees, branches and other items as they move downhill, sometimes with alarming speed.
In wildfire burn areas, the risk is higher. Burned soil repels water, meaning debris flows can be triggered with much less rainfall that areas with healthy vegetation.
An atmospheric river will bring heavy rainfall, likely with dangerous flooding and debris flows, to parts of Southern California today into the weekend.
A debris flow happens when normally dry soil becomes overly saturated, reaching a point where it turns to a liquid state and… pic.twitter.com/o7wQu4HSPM
In the Palisades Fire area, Caltrans will close Topanga Canyon Boulevard between Pacific Coast Highway and Grand View Drive at 10 p.m. Thursday. Caltrans officials said motorists should expect the stretch to remain closed at least through the Friday morning commute, but potentially through the weekend, depending how the storm develops.
That stretch of Topanga Canyon has been undergoing nightly repairs, with the road closed between midnight and 5 a.m.
The California Drought Monitor map for Nov. 13, 2025.
California drought update
Moderate to severe drought was reported in pockets of Southern California with most of the state drought-free, according to Thursday’s Drought Monitor update.
Nine percent of California was in severe drought, the second-least severe of the Monitor’s four drought categories. Areas include most of Orange County, western Riverside County and slivers of San Bernardino County.
About 32 percent of the state was in moderate drought. Nearly 50 percent of California was drought-free.
At this time last year 5 percent of the state was in severe drought with 17 percent in m moderate drought. Three months ago near the end of a hot and dry summer, 23 percent of the state was in severe drought with nearly 40 percent in severe drought.
A fire sparked Thursday in eastern El Paso County briefly evacuated nearby residents before it was fully contained, the sheriff’s office said
The Big Springs fire consumed 82 acres near 31415 Big Springs Road — north of Yoder and about 35 miles east of Colorado Springs — before fire crews gained full containment as of 1:41 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued at 12:30 p.m. for residents in the area. Sheriff’s officials downgraded the area to pre-evacuation status 30 minutes later.
Additional information about the fire, including the cause, was not immediately available Thursday.
Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke.
Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke.
The government says they are protected.
The government says they are protected.
We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.
We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.
Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke.
Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke.
The government says they are protected.
The government says they are protected.
We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.
We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.
It’s July and the Green fire is tearing through Northern California. An elite federal firefighting crew called the La Grande Hotshots has been sent to help. The 24-person crew has been working for days on the front lines, where invisible toxins hide in the thick haze.
More than 1,000 firefighters are on the fire. Several crews, including the La Grande Hotshots, are trying to contain the flames by building a trench of bare earth that will stretch from a road to a river bank. They’re doing this at night, in hopes that the cooler air will tamp down the smoke.
The crew knows that they’re risking their health.
The La Grande hotshots on assignment this summer.
La Grande Hotshots
One longtime member died last year after being diagnosed at 40 with brain cancer. A former crew leader is being treated for both leukemia and lymphoma diagnosed in his 40s. Another colleague was recently told that he has the lungs of a lifelong chainsmoker.
Wildfire fighters nationwide are getting sick and dying at young ages, The New York Times hasreported. The federal government acknowledges that the job is linked to lung disease, heart damage and more than a dozen kinds of cancer.
Casey Budlong, a La Grande Hotshot, died of cancer in 2024 after fighting fires for two decades. He left behind an 8-year-old son.
Katy Budlong
But the U.S. Forest Service, which employs thousands of firefighters, has for decades ignored recommendations from its own scientists to monitor the conditions at the fire line and limit shifts when the air becomes unsafe.
To find out how harmful the air gets on an average-size wildfire, Times reporters brought sensors to the Green fire this summer. We tracked levels of some of the most lethal particles in the air, called PM2.5, which are so tiny that they can enter the bloodstream and cause lasting damage.
Readings above 225.5 micrograms per cubic meter are considered hazardous. On the fire line, levels regularly exceeded 500.
The fire began on July 1 after a lightning storm passed over the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
The fire began on July 1 after a lightning storm passed over the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
By July 16, much of the area was shrouded in smoke.
By July 16, much of the area was shrouded in smoke.
Around 6 p.m., the La Grande Hotshots started their shift and set off toward the fire line.
Capt. Nick Schramm, a crew leader, assumed the air was reasonably safe. He has done this work for nearly two decades, and like most firefighters, he often has coughing fits after long shifts. But he believes that exposure to hazardous air is unavoidable.
“That’s just the harsh truth,” he said later.
As climate change makes fire seasons worse, several states have tried to shield outdoor workers from wildfire smoke, which can contain poisons like arsenic, benzene and lead. California now requires employers to monitor air quality during fires, and to provide breaks and masks when the air turns unhealthy.
But these rules don’t apply on the wildfires themselves, because state agencies and private companies successfully argued that those constraints would get in the way of fighting fires.
Until recently, federal firefighters weren’t even allowed to wear masks on the job. Masks are now provided, but they are still banned during the most arduous work, closest to the fire. The Forest Service says face coverings could cause heatstroke, though wildland firefighters in other countries regularly use masks without this problem.
As crews descended the ridge toward the fire line, the levels of toxic particles nearly doubled.
As crews descended the ridge toward the fire line, the levels of toxic particles nearly doubled.
Firefighters say that during their shifts they worry more about immediate dangers — falling trees, burns, sharp tools — than about smoke exposure. As the La Grande crew hiked down the steep terrain, Lily Barnes, a squad leader, concentrated on keeping her footing.
Back home in the off-season, she sometimes wonders what the smoke is doing to her body, she said in an interview. “Maybe I’ll realize one day I shouldn’t have been doing this work.”
The handbook issued to Forest Service crews has 10 words of guidance for smoke exposure on the fire line: “If needed, rotate resources in and out of smoky areas.” The agency declined to comment for this story, but in the past has told The Times that while exposure cannot be completely eliminated, rotating crews helps limit risk.
In practice, according to interviews with hundreds of firefighters, workers feel as though they are sent into smoke and then forgotten. Over months of reporting, Times journalists never saw a boss pull a crew back because of exposure.
Even experienced supervisors can’t tell exactly how unhealthy the air is just by looking.
Chuy Elguezabal, the La Grande superintendent, says he pulls his crews out of smoke when it becomes impossible for them to work — when they cannot see or breathe, or they are overcome by headaches and coughing fits.
On the Green fire, he said, the smoke seemed like more of an inconvenience, like the 105-degree daytime heat or the poison oak that had given many of the firefighters weeping sores.
Since the 1990s, Forest Service researchers have suggested giving crews wearable air sensors, but the agency hasn’t done it. Other dangerous workplaces, like coal mines, have long been required to monitor airborne hazards.
On the Green fire, The Times used a device that weighs as much as a deck of cards and costs about $200.
Last year, firefighters wore the same devices during a small federal research project to measure their exposure. For hours, those readings stayed at 1,000 — as high as the monitors go — according to Zach Kiehl, a consultant who worked on the project.
Mr. Kiehl said that ideally, crews would be issued monitors to know when to put on masks or pull back from a smoky area. “You can pay now and prevent future cases, or pay out later when a person is losing a husband or a father,” he said.
The firefighters believe that the decision to work at night has paid off: The smoke occasionally got thick, but didn’t seem bad compared with other fires they have worked. They think the exposure was fleeting.
In fact, the monitors show, the air was never safe.
Methodology
To measure particulate concentrations at the Green fire, The Times followed U.S. Forest Service crews and carried two Atmotube PRO sensors. These portable, inexpensive monitors are the same as those the Forest Service has tested in the field.
We consulted with Dr. Aishah Shittu, an environmental health scientist, and Dr. Jim McQuaid, an atmospheric scientist, both from the University of Leeds. They are co-authors of a study showing that Atmotube Pro sensors demonstrated good performance for measuring fine particulate matter concentrations despite being a fraction of the size of reference-grade models. We also developed our approach in consultation with experts from the Interior Department and the Forest Service.
On the Green fire, the sensors recorded minute-by-minute averages of airborne particles that are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller. The Times then matched these readings with timestamps and locations from a satellite-enabled GPS watch.
Generally, the harm associated with PM2.5 levels is calculated based on a 24-hour average. Here, for near-real-time monitoring on the fire line, we followed the guidance of Drs. Shittu and McQuaid by first averaging the readings from the two sensors and then calculating a 15-minute rolling average.
Using those figures, we categorized the health risks of PM2.5 exposure according to standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We used standards meant for the public because there are no federal occupational standards for wildfire smoke exposure.
After averaging, our data had a correlation coefficient of 0.98 and a mean coefficient of variation between the two sensors of 7.5 percent. The E.P.A. recommends that PM2.5 air measurements have a correlation coefficient of at least 0.7 and a mean coefficient of variation less than 30 percent. Our correlation and variance measures gave us confidence that the sensors were largely in agreement.
The 3-D base map in this article uses Google’s Photorealistic 3D Tiles, which draw from the following sources to create the tiles: Google; Airbus; Landsat / Copernicus; Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO; IBCAO.
Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke.
Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke.
The government says they are protected.
The government says they are protected.
We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.
We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.
Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke.
Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke.
The government says they are protected.
The government says they are protected.
We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.
We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.
It’s July and the Green fire is tearing through Northern California. An elite federal firefighting crew called the La Grande Hotshots has been sent to help. The 24-person crew has been working for days on the front lines, where invisible toxins hide in the thick haze.
More than 1,000 firefighters are on the fire. Several crews, including the La Grande Hotshots, are trying to contain the flames by building a trench of bare earth that will stretch from a road to a river bank. They’re doing this at night, in hopes that the cooler air will tamp down the smoke.
The crew knows that they’re risking their health.
The La Grande hotshots on assignment this summer.
La Grande Hotshots
One longtime member died last year after being diagnosed at 40 with brain cancer. A former crew leader is being treated for both leukemia and lymphoma diagnosed in his 40s. Another colleague was recently told that he has the lungs of a lifelong chainsmoker.
Wildfire fighters nationwide are getting sick and dying at young ages, The New York Times hasreported. The federal government acknowledges that the job is linked to lung disease, heart damage and more than a dozen kinds of cancer.
Casey Budlong, a La Grande Hotshot, died of cancer in 2024 after fighting fires for two decades. He left behind an 8-year-old son.
Katy Budlong
But the U.S. Forest Service, which employs thousands of firefighters, has for decades ignored recommendations from its own scientists to monitor the conditions at the fire line and limit shifts when the air becomes unsafe.
To find out how harmful the air gets on an average-size wildfire, Times reporters brought sensors to the Green fire this summer. We tracked levels of some of the most lethal particles in the air, called PM2.5, which are so tiny that they can enter the bloodstream and cause lasting damage.
Readings above 225.5 micrograms per cubic meter are considered hazardous. On the fire line, levels regularly exceeded 500.
The fire began on July 1 after a lightning storm passed over the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
The fire began on July 1 after a lightning storm passed over the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
By July 16, much of the area was shrouded in smoke.
By July 16, much of the area was shrouded in smoke.
Around 6 p.m., the La Grande Hotshots started their shift and set off toward the fire line.
Capt. Nick Schramm, a crew leader, assumed the air was reasonably safe. He has done this work for nearly two decades, and like most firefighters, he often has coughing fits after long shifts. But he believes that exposure to hazardous air is unavoidable.
“That’s just the harsh truth,” he said later.
As climate change makes fire seasons worse, several states have tried to shield outdoor workers from wildfire smoke, which can contain poisons like arsenic, benzene and lead. California now requires employers to monitor air quality during fires, and to provide breaks and masks when the air turns unhealthy.
But these rules don’t apply on the wildfires themselves, because state agencies and private companies successfully argued that those constraints would get in the way of fighting fires.
Until recently, federal firefighters weren’t even allowed to wear masks on the job. Masks are now provided, but they are still banned during the most arduous work, closest to the fire. The Forest Service says face coverings could cause heatstroke, though wildland firefighters in other countries regularly use masks without this problem.
As crews descended the ridge toward the fire line, the levels of toxic particles nearly doubled.
As crews descended the ridge toward the fire line, the levels of toxic particles nearly doubled.
Firefighters say that during their shifts they worry more about immediate dangers — falling trees, burns, sharp tools — than about smoke exposure. As the La Grande crew hiked down the steep terrain, Lily Barnes, a squad leader, concentrated on keeping her footing.
Back home in the off-season, she sometimes wonders what the smoke is doing to her body, she said in an interview. “Maybe I’ll realize one day I shouldn’t have been doing this work.”
The handbook issued to Forest Service crews has 10 words of guidance for smoke exposure on the fire line: “If needed, rotate resources in and out of smoky areas.” The agency declined to comment for this story, but in the past has told The Times that while exposure cannot be completely eliminated, rotating crews helps limit risk.
In practice, according to hundreds of firefighters, workers feel as though they are sent into smoke and then forgotten. Over months of reporting, Times journalists never saw a boss pull a crew back because of exposure.
Even experienced supervisors can’t tell exactly how unhealthy the air is just by looking.
Chuy Elguezabal, the La Grande superintendent, says he pulls his crews out of smoke when it becomes impossible for them to work — when they cannot see or breathe, or they are overcome by headaches and coughing fits.
On the Green fire, he said, the smoke seemed like more of an inconvenience, like the 105-degree daytime heat or the poison oak that had given many of the firefighters weeping sores.
Since the 1990s, Forest Service researchers have suggested giving crews wearable air sensors, but the agency hasn’t done it. Other dangerous workplaces, like coal mines, have long been required to monitor airborne hazards.
On the Green fire, The Times used a device that weighs as much as a deck of cards and costs about $200.
Last year, firefighters wore the same devices during a small federal research project to measure their exposure. For hours, those readings stayed at 1,000 — as high as the monitors go — according to Zach Kiehl, a consultant who worked on the project.
Mr. Kiehl said that ideally, crews would be issued monitors to know when to put on masks or pull back from a smoky area. “You can pay now and prevent future cases, or pay out later when a person is losing a husband or a father,” he said.
The firefighters believe that the decision to work at night has paid off: The smoke occasionally got thick, but didn’t seem bad compared with other fires they have worked. They think the exposure was fleeting.
In fact, the monitors show, the air was never safe.
Methodology
To measure particulate concentrations at the Green fire, The Times followed U.S. Forest Service crews and carried two Atmotube PRO sensors. These portable, inexpensive monitors are the same as those the Forest Service has tested in the field.
We consulted with Dr. Aishah Shittu, an environmental health scientist, and Dr. Jim McQuaid, an atmospheric scientist, both from the University of Leeds. They are co-authors of a study showing that Atmotube Pro sensors demonstrated good performance for measuring fine particulate matter concentrations despite being a fraction of the size of reference-grade models. We also developed our approach in consultation with experts from the Interior Department and the Forest Service.
On the Green fire, the sensors recorded minute-by-minute averages of airborne particles that are 2.5 micrometers in diameter or smaller. The Times then matched these readings with timestamps and locations from a satellite-enabled GPS watch.
Generally, the harm associated with PM2.5 levels is calculated based on a 24-hour average. Here, for near-real-time monitoring on the fire line, we followed the guidance of Drs. Shittu and McQuaid by first averaging the readings from the two sensors and then calculating a 15-minute rolling average.
Using those figures, we categorized the health risks of PM2.5 exposure according to standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. We used standards meant for the public because there are no federal occupational standards for wildfire smoke exposure.
After averaging, our data had a correlation coefficient of 0.98 and a mean coefficient of variation between the two sensors of 7.5 percent. The E.P.A. recommends that PM2.5 air measurements have a correlation coefficient of at least 0.7 and a mean coefficient of variation less than 30 percent. Our correlation and variance measures gave us confidence that the sensors were largely in agreement.
The 3-D base map in this article uses Google’s Photorealistic 3D Tiles, which draw from the following sources to create the tiles: Google; Airbus; Landsat / Copernicus; Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO; IBCAO.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has picked a 30-year fire department veteran as the new fire chief months she ousted the previous chief over handling of the most destructive wildfire in the city’s history.
Bass announced Friday she was selecting deputy chief Jaime Moore to take the reins of the Los Angeles Fire Department after a nationwide search with more than 100 candidates.
Moore will inherit a department that has faced scrutiny over its response to the Palisades Fire, which began during heavy winds Jan. 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people in the affluent LA neighborhood.
Bass, a first-term Democrat seeking reelection, fired then-fire chief Kristin Crowley six weeks after the blaze amid a public rift over preparations for a potential blaze and finger-pointing between the chief and City Hall over responsibility for the devastation.
Moore said he will work to implement strategic changes such as preparation for major disasters and world events, improving morale and culture, and ensuring the department has adequate staffing and resources.
“I’m proud to appoint an Angeleno to this role, and I know that he will work to improve the LAFD for everyone in this city,” Bass said.
The firefighters union quickly applauded Moore’s appointment.
“Throughout his career with the LAFD, Chief Moore has shown strong leadership and a deep commitment to the department,” the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City wrote on X. “His background and experience within the ranks has demonstrated that he’s the right leader at the right time to move the LAFD forward.”
Moore currently oversees operations for the Valley Bureau, covering a northern swath of the city that includes 39 fire stations and over 980 sworn personnel, according to his fire department biography. He joined the LAFD in May 1995 and has worked in a multitude of areas within the department throughout the years. In 2018, he was promoted to assistant chief.
He was born in Delhi, Louisiana, but has spent his entire life in Southern California. His mother was an immigrant from Guadalajara, Mexico, and he was raised speaking English and Spanish.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles and a master’s degree in public administration and emergency management from California State University, Long Beach.
The appointment comes at a critical political juncture for Bass, as she positions herself for a reelection run next year after a difficult first term. City Hall has struggled with a shortage of cash and a continuing homeless crisis with the 2028 Olympics on the horizon, while continuing to rebuilt from the January fires.
Crowley, the department’s first female chief, was named chief in 2022 by Bass’ predecessor at a time when the department was in turmoil over allegations of rampant harassment, hazing and discrimination. She worked for the city fire department for more than 25 years and held nearly every role, including fire marshal, engineer and battalion chief.
Fire officials, including Crowley, expressed concerns over budget cuts that left the department understaffed and fire trucks sitting idle in the maintenance yard because they didn’t have mechanics to fix them. The firefighters union sharply criticized Bass’ decision, calling Crowley a “scapegoat.”
Crowley filed a legal claim against the city in August accusing Bass of an “orchestrated campaign of misinformation, defamation and retaliation” after the wildfires.
Federal investigators have determined that the Palisades Fire was ignited from a smaller fire that was set about a week earlier on New Year’s Day. A man accused of sparking the fire pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges. His attorney has blamed the LAFD for not fully extinguishing the initial fire, while fire officials have said such fires linger deep underground and are impossible to detect.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Fighting wildfires is a massive logistical challenge—a high-stakes puzzle where every move counts. At their core, wildfires are optimization problems: How do you allocate limited resources like water, personnel, and aircraft to have the greatest impact? Which areas must be protected first, and how do you predict and stay ahead of a fire’s unpredictable behavior? Add in dynamic factors like shifting weather patterns and road traffic, and the complexity becomes even more staggering.
Following the tragic Los Angeles fires of 2025, many of us find ourselves asking, “How can we prevent this from happening in the future?”
The answer, perhaps, lies in quantum logic: this is exactly the kind of problem that quantum logic was built to solve.
Classical computers can crunch numbers, but they’re limited—they analyze a subset of possibilities and find a “good enough” solution. Quantum computers, however, can evaluate all possibilities simultaneously, calculating optimal strategies in fractions of a second.
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
What Could Quantum Do for Firefighting?
Who would you rather have allocating resources during the most critical times, an overtaxed fire chief on the ground, or one that is assisted by an all-seeing quantum computer factoring in every variable, including burning ember trajectory and water resource allocation?
Quantum computing thrives in scenarios with complex, dynamic variables. For wildfire management, its potential is game-changing:
• Fire Spread Prediction: Simulate fire behavior in real time, using live data like wind changes, humidity, and terrain.
• Resource Allocation: Optimize the placement of water, crews, and aircraft/drone for maximum impact.
• Critical Prioritization: Identify choke points or high-risk zones where intervention is most needed.
• Scenario Testing: Instantly model “what-if” scenarios to evaluate the outcomes of different strategies.
This precision could save lives, homes, and communities.
But Are Quantum Computers Ready?
There has been a lot of talk about the potential of quantum computers, and when they will actually be ready. While the computers themselves could still be a decade or more away, the good news is that solving large-scale optimization problems is possible today.
What makes this exciting is that quantum algorithms don’t require fully developed quantum computers—they can run on today’s most sophisticated classical systems, delivering quantum-inspired solutions now. Players in the space such as D-Wave, Microsoft Azure, and Entanglement (full disclosure: I’m an investor in Entanglement) have already made major headway in this field, each bringing their own approaches to tackle optimization challenges.
Their tools, like QUBOs (quadratic unconstrained binary optimization) and other combinatorial optimization solvers can analyze massive data sets and evaluate all possibilities simultaneously, finding the best answer in real time.
Fighting Fire (and insurance companies) with Quantum Logic
Insurance companies are already using math to predict the odds of losing homes, often leaving homeowners and governments scrambling to react.
What if we could flip the script? Leveraging quantum math to improve the odds for homeowners? We can make higher-risk areas safer and re-insurable, helping to rebuild communities and ensure their sustainability for their long-term.
Early progress has been made in the field of fire prevention. The U.S. Army, according to a report in May, used quantum computing to plan fuel breaks—a brush management technique that stops wildfires from spreading.
Wildfires are devastating, but with the right focus and tools, we can fight back—with precision, strategy, and quantum math on our side.
LOS ANGELES — A 29-year-old man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges.
Jonathan Rinderknecht appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon after arriving in Los Angeles from Florida earlier in the day, his attorney Steve Haney said. A judge ordered that he remain in custody ahead of his trial.
Federal officials said Rinderknecht, who lived in the area, started a small fire on New Year’s Day that smoldered underground before reigniting nearly a week later and roaring through Pacific Palisades, home to many of Los Angeles’ rich and famous.
The fire, which left 12 dead in the hillside neighborhoods across Pacific Palisades and Malibu, was one of two blazes that broke out on Jan. 7, killing more than 30 people in all and destroying over 17,000 homes and buildings while burning for days in Los Angeles County.
Haney told the judge he took issue with the fact that Rinderknecht was facing charges for the Palisades Fire when he allegedly started the smaller fire beforehand known as the Lachman Fire.
“My client is being charged with a fire that started seven days after,” he said.
Rinderknecht was staying at his sister’s house in Orlando when he was arrested by federal officials on Oct. 7. He made his first court appearance the next day in Florida on a charge of malicious destruction by means of a fire.
A week later, a grand jury indicted him on additional charges including one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and one count of timber set afire. If convicted, he would face up to 20 years in federal prison.
Rinderknecht’s trial is set for December 16.
On Thursday, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver wearing a white jumpsuit. His attorney argued that he should be released on bail, based on the evaluation of court officials in Florida.
Rinderknecht has no documented history of mental health issues, drug use, or prior criminal activity, Haney said.
However, the judge in Florida who ordered Rinderknecht to be detained said he had concerns about the Rinderknecht’s mental health and his ability to get to California for future court hearings.
He appeared agitated when the judge in Los Anglees again ordered that he remain in jail, interjecting into the microphone, “Can I actually say something about detainment?”
Haney said they planned to return to the judge with additional evidence for why Rinderknecht should be released on bail.
“He’s a frustrated young man,” Haney said after the hearing. “He doesn’t know why he’s in jail right now.”
Haney said they plan to argue that even if Rinderknecht was the cause of the initial smaller fire on New Year’s Day, there were several “intervening factors” in the week between that day and when the Palisades Fire ignited, mainly the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Rinderknecht made several 911 calls to report the fire, according to a criminal complaint. Federal officials called the Palisades blaze a “holdover fire” from the Jan. 1 fire, which was not fully extinguished by firefighters, the complaint said.
The city’s interim fire chief said such fires linger in root systems and can reach depths of 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to over 6 meters), making them undetectable by thermal imaging cameras.
“They had a duty to put the fire out,” Haney said. “I do think he’s a scapegoat.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 29-year-old man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges.
Jonathan Rinderknecht appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon after arriving in Los Angeles from Florida earlier in the day, his attorney Steve Haney said. A judge ordered that he remain in custody ahead of his trial.
Federal officials said Rinderknecht, who lived in the area, started a small fire on New Year’s Day that smoldered underground before reigniting nearly a week later and roaring through Pacific Palisades, home to many of Los Angeles’ rich and famous.
The fire, which left 12 dead in the hillside neighborhoods across Pacific Palisades and Malibu, was one of two blazes that broke out on Jan. 7, killing more than 30 people in all and destroying over 17,000 homes and buildings while burning for days in Los Angeles County.
Haney told the judge he took issue with the fact that Rinderknecht was facing charges for the Palisades Fire when he allegedly started the smaller fire beforehand known as the Lachman Fire.
“My client is being charged with a fire that started seven days after,” he said.
Rinderknecht was staying at his sister’s house in Orlando when he was arrested by federal officials on Oct. 7. He made his first court appearance the next day in Florida on a charge of malicious destruction by means of a fire.
A week later, a grand jury indicted him on additional charges including one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and one count of timber set afire. If convicted, he would face up to 20 years in federal prison.
Rinderknecht’s trial is set for December 16.
On Thursday, he appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver wearing a white jumpsuit. His attorney argued that he should be released on bail, based on the evaluation of court officials in Florida.
Rinderknecht has no documented history of mental health issues, drug use, or prior criminal activity, Haney said.
However, the judge in Florida who ordered Rinderknecht to be detained said he had concerns about the Rinderknecht’s mental health and his ability to get to California for future court hearings.
He appeared agitated when the judge in Los Anglees again ordered that he remain in jail, interjecting into the microphone, “Can I actually say something about detainment?”
Haney said they planned to return to the judge with additional evidence for why Rinderknecht should be released on bail.
“He’s a frustrated young man,” Haney said after the hearing. “He doesn’t know why he’s in jail right now.”
Haney said they plan to argue that even if Rinderknecht was the cause of the initial smaller fire on New Year’s Day, there were several “intervening factors” in the week between that day and when the Palisades Fire ignited, mainly the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Rinderknecht made several 911 calls to report the fire, according to a criminal complaint. Federal officials called the Palisades blaze a “holdover fire” from the Jan. 1 fire, which was not fully extinguished by firefighters, the complaint said.
The city’s interim fire chief said such fires linger in root systems and can reach depths of 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to over 6 meters), making them undetectable by thermal imaging cameras.
“They had a duty to put the fire out,” Haney said. “I do think he’s a scapegoat.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Power lines hang over an alley in Athmar Park. July 11, 2023.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
On Sunday, Xcel issued a warning that it might shut off power ahead of high winds on Monday in Denver and surrounding counties. The shutdown never happened, but it made us wonder: How often does Xcel shut off power, what goes into that decision and how does it work?
During bouts of high winds and dry temperatures, Xcel Energy has two ways to reduce the risk that a powerline will spark a fire.
The first option is less dramatic.
On days like Monday, Xcel changes how it handles problems with lines.
Normally, if a tree branch or other debris falls on a power line, it will reset automatically, as long as the object doesn’t stay on the line.
But during high winds, “Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings” (EPSS) can be enacted. In this mode, debris causes a line to turn off immediately. It will only come back on once someone from Xcel checks the line.
According to a video from Xcel, patrols are done by aerial inspection, by truck or on foot. Once it’s cleared, they’ll turn the power line back on. Xcel enacted this protocol on Monday, and it may have led to some power outages. Xcel was not able to provide a number.
There’s also a more extreme preemptive measure.
Xcel can shut down lines if they’re near active wildfires or if there’s extreme risk, which it considered doing on Monday. This is known as the “Public Safety Power Shutoff” (PSPS) plan. The utility warned that shutdowns might be necessary for up to seven hours, but they didn’t ultimately happen.
According to Xcel’s website, the PSPS measure is not a step it takes “lightly.” It’s a five-stage plan that starts 72 hours before the power shuts off and ends 72 hours after the “all clear.”
Xcel previously did preemptive shutdowns in April 2024, when winds spiked to around 100 mph. About 55,000 people around the northern Front Range were without power as a result of the PSPS, according to the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, and roughly 100,000 more lost power through unplanned outages.
Xcel said it communicates with customers as soon as the forecast includes extreme weather.
The risks of fire are extreme — both for utilities and the public.
Xcel launched its wildfire mitigation program in 2020, which includes shutdown, community outreach and resources during shutdowns. Xcel plans to spend about $1.9 billion on wildfire mitigation through 2027, including on measures like burying power lines.
In 2021, the Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,000 buildings in Boulder and Jefferson counties. It began as two fires – including one that investigators said was sparked by an Xcel powerline.
Xcel and two telecom companies recently settled a lawsuit over the fire for $640 million. Xcel admitted no fault.
But the new paradigm for fighting these fires contains an inconvenient truth. Most people don’t live in new houses, and most building codes aren’t as strict as California’s. And so, for the large majority of the approximately fifty million U.S. homes in the WUI, fire prevention falls to individual homeowners—it’s voluntary and ad hoc. “The approach that has been taken for the last quarter century has been one of, ‘Hey, something is better than nothing,’ ” Maranghides told me. “And, from a fire perspective, that is absolutely not true. Fire doesn’t work that way.” A homeowner could complete eighty per cent of fire-protection measures, potentially spending many tens of thousands of dollars on retrofits, and lose their house because of the twenty per cent that remains unfinished—in no small part because of uncontrollable, unpredictable embers.
This reality has led Maranghides to a position so logical that it reminded me of Spock, the ultra-rational character from “Star Trek.” For homes to survive fire disasters on their own, he said, people who live on the boundary with wildlands should not only clear sources of fuel from around their properties but also make a hundred per cent of potential home-hardening improvements. Even these extraordinary measures, he went on, are insufficient. No home is an island, and dense housing developments can protect themselves only if every neighbor does the same work. Such recommendations are so stringent that they may seem impossible; some of Maranghides’s colleagues in the fire-prevention world worry that the message will deter the public from trying. “You cannot pick and choose,” Maranghides told me. “The science tells us you have to do everything.”
For much of the twentieth century, forest fires tended to threaten rural communities. Over time, a particular approach to fire prevention emerged: if your house sat on a spacious parcel in or near the woods, you could work to protect it by creating a buffer around it. In the sixties, a California law supported by the state’s fire agency advanced the foundational concept of defensible space, a zone of up to a hundred feet where fuels such as brush and trees are strategically trimmed back and managed. The U.S. Forest Service eventually recommended the practice. But, throughout the decades, housing developments crept toward wildlands, the climate warmed, and fires increasingly escalated into unstoppable urban conflagrations. In the past decade, California’s most destructive fires incinerated more than fifty-seven thousand homes, commercial properties, and other structures. And, when the nearest source of fuel is not the woods but, rather, the house next door, a broader strategy is needed. Houses had to be hardened to make them less likely to go up in flames.
This past spring, I visited Maranghides at the National Fire Research Laboratory, which studies hardening strategies in a hulking, warehouse-like structure on NIST’s campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Enormous ventilation pipes were coiled like snakes on the roof of the building. Maranghides, bespectacled and in jeans, met me in the vestibule, where we grabbed white hard hats. From there, we entered a cavernous room with a reinforced concrete floor. A roughly fifty-square-foot air-exhaust hood—an industrial version of what one finds in home kitchens—hung from the ceiling.
A dozen researchers were gathered around a mockup of a single-story dwelling. A beige façade made from cement fibreboard featured a double-pane slider window, an asphalt-composite shingle roof, and a metal gutter. It was designed to be highly fire-resistant, in keeping with Chapter 7A and the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code. (The house was like a stage set, with scaffolding where the other three walls would have been; sensors tracked metrics such as temperature and heat flux.) But all eyes were focussed on a small shed made from corrugated steel sitting five feet from the house. Its open door, facing the dwelling, revealed stacks of wood inside.
“Stand by for ignition,” a voice announced through a loudspeaker. A man in firefighting gear approached the shed, used a propane torch to set a fire, and walked away. Within minutes, an incandescent blaze was shooting out the door toward the wall. We could hear loud crackling; embers flew about. Soon, orange-red flames began to lick the wall and the roof’s open eaves. Smoke spiralled upward. The window frame, which was made from white vinyl, started melting and then ignited. Around ten minutes into the experiment, the eaves were burning. A glass window pane fell to the ground.
A decade ago, two college students built a fire extinguisher that snuffed out a fire using nothing more than a booming 10-inch subwoofer. The internet lapped it up, and Jimmy Fallon even booked a demonstration for The Tonight Show.
But since that brief viral moment, there hasn’t been much more than a whisper about the technology.
It’s not for lack of trying. The college kids weren’t the first to prove the concept. DARPA was on the case in 2012; and a search of the scientific literature reveals dozens of researchers investigating the idea.
One startup now claims to have cracked the problem. Sonic Fire Tech has built an acoustic fire suppression system that doesn’t just extinguish flames; it that might also protect homes and other buildings from wildfires. The startup has raised a $3.5 million seed round from investors, including Khosla Ventures and Third Sphere, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.
Wildfires cost the U.S. as much as $424 billion annually. The problem has become so acute in places like California that insurers are refusing to renew policies after repeated blazes have reduced large swathes of the state to ashes.
Sonic Fire Tech has been developing its technology over the last several years. Michael Thomas, who is chairman of the startup’s board, had been tinkering with the idea of using sound to fight fires, and when he hit a wall, he reached out to Geoff Bruder over LinkedIn. Bruder had worked for NASA, where he focused on heat and acoustics.
“This is kind of a new age founding story,” Bruder, the startup’s CEO and CTO, told TechCrunch.
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Bruder was intrigued with Thomas’s idea and set about building a prototype. “I got a subwoofer and some parts from Home Depot and AutoZone and said, ‘Hey, let’s see if we can do any better than other people had,’” Bruder recalled. “We knocked a fire out from seven feet in my driveway.”
The startup soon ditched the subwoofer and moved to lower frequencies. The problem with audible frequencies is that any system powerful enough to suppress a fire would be damaging to people’s hearing, Bruder said. “You’ve basically got to throw a speaker design in the trash and start from scratch,” he said.
There are competing theories as to how exactly acoustic energy can disrupt combustion, but the soundless demonstrations certainly suggest that Sonic Fire Tech is onto something.
The new system uses a reciprocating piston much like those inside a car’s engine, but it is significantly larger. An electric motor turns a crankshaft, which pulses the two-foot piston to produce infrasound, the technical term for sound that’s below people’s hearing range, or about 20 Hz.
“Since we designed everything ourselves, we dropped the frequency to where we’re below audible range, which helps us transmit further, and it makes it safe,” Bruder said.
Sonic Fire Tech’s current record is 25 feet. A bigger system could work as far away as 330 feet, Bruder said. The company plans to sell and install its system for about 2% of a home’s value, and it’s talking with insurance companies to qualify the technology.
To protect a house, Sonic Fire Tech routes infrasound from a single generator through rigid ducts that sit on the roof’s ridge and under the eaves. On the ridge, they fire down the pitch to catch any fires that might start in debris in the gutters. Under the eaves, they are aimed toward the ground to suppress any flames that pop up near the walls. The system turns on when sensors detect a flame.
A home-based system draws around 500 watts of electricity, and in case of a power outage, Sonic Fire Tech is drawing up plans to use lead-acid batteries for backup. Unlike sprinkler systems, it doesn’t require a source of water, which can be in short supply in wildfire country.
The startup is working with PG&E and Southern California Edison to demonstrate the technology on homes, and it has signed a letter of intent with a chemical storage facility.
“The natural progression is, if we get certified as a sprinkler replacement, then you can just run a run a pipe into your house and protect your kitchen and everywhere you would need to protect,” Bruder said.
